Are You Tired of Spam Text Messages?

Tell us what you’ve done to minimize or stop them!

I get all kinds of spam texts! It is really annoying. I have tried sending STOP, or QUIT or UNSUBSCRIBE and usually whoever is sending these texts have some sort of block and the message Im trying to send to them says undeliverable, or something like that. And the texts continue. I have tried putting on apps that are supposed to stop these texts, but it does not work. The texts still somehow get through. I have notified my carrier who says they can’t do anything about it. ???

The most recent spam text messages being pushed to my cellphone are from an unknown email so when you view the text there is no number to block. I’m with AT&T and while they have a report feature you can’t report the text coming from an email address to them. Help.

The most spam I get is political, they use a different number every time. I respond with stop and sometimes it slows down for a while then pics right back up. I would support some people if I knew I wouldn’t get spammed daily.

Here is another example of our ‘law makers’ exempting themselves from the laws, the rest of us must follow…
When creating the Federal Do Not Call Registry, Congress exempted themselves and their campaigns from being subject to the Registry and its prohibitions. So they can call and text us all they want.
After all, why should they respect my right to not have my phone (a service that, I, pay for, out of my post-taxed dollars) be used for their campaign to join the ‘powerful’?

My carrier is Visible Wireless (MVNO for Verizon) and they do a fair job of catching spam texts on the way in and quarantining them for my later review. Recently, however, scammer/spammers have begun to use email-to-text services of the carriers in a further effort to disguise their origin, so reporting to the various agencies at times does not work because they are expecting a phone number.

I have found a way to dramatically cut down the number of spam messages: My voice mail greeting says “if ur an unknown caller, you’ll be blocked right away and without delay” - it’s working !

I don’t have any advice for making the scam texts stop, but I always forward the messages to 7726 to report it as SPAM.

Since I am retired and using an Android phone I just active Do Not Distrub and limit incoming calls and text to persons in my contact list.

I don’t get spam calls and rarely get a spam text.

There is a real uptick in “teaser” spam texts on my phone. Things like “hey, are we still meeting at 9?” and just a “hello” come in at least 4-5 times a week. And at this time of the year, I get about 1 “USPS Cannot Deliver Your Package” scam per week. I report every one to the Android (Verizon) spam line, which then blocks that number at the same time.

This is all well and good, but for crying out loud, what the hell is the status of the industry’s “STIR/SHAKEN” protocols that are supposed to eliminate all this crap without user intervention? The FCC says that on 03/17/23, they are “Closing Gap in Caller ID Authentication Regime”. Right.

It just begs the question as to who continues to be enriched by not having this in place? As a tech-savvy person, I can deal with all of this nonsense. What frost’s my ass is all the seniors and less-savvy people that are getting scammed and losing their money daily. Step-up, industry. Get this crap taken care of.

I usually just block the number. Does it work? Certainly not 100% but it helps

Robert, the problem is they keep changing the numbers. You’re just chasing your tail.

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I know. I alternate daily between blocking and reporting phishing. Neither works perfectly because I get the same spam over and over.

However, I’ve reduced the 75-100 … every … single …day.

Now about 10 - 15 / day which is manageable.

I’ve read using ‘unsubscribe’ is useless.

I cannot block numbers that text; i can block ones that call, but half the time the number rings at least once before being cut off.

I have a test phone number on the mainalnd. I have an old phone company recording answer that says “This call requires a deposit of 25 cents. Please hang up, deposit 25 cents and place your call again”. It doesn’t stop the spammers but I laugh at the ‘foreigens’ who have no clue that they are not using a pay phone.

I also have a recording that says “Due to the Hurricane in the area you are calling…”.

If the callers really were people and no bots, I would apss the calls on to ‘Lenny’. That link shows 14 minutes that telemarketer will never get back :slight_smile:

With advances in AI I can imagine telemarketer AIs talking to called party AIs. Maybe they can agree to do lunch.

:joy::joy::joy::joy::joy::joy::joy::joy::joy::joy::joy::joy: